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Red Oak Farm
3040 Big Buck Road
Trezevant, TN 38258
owners@redoakfarm.com
Copyright © 1998 -2012
All Rights Reserved
Red Oak Farm
Revised: almost weekly
Water Requirements for Emu
Fresh clean water helps in the digestion of feed. Adult emus need about a gallon of water per bird per day. For this reason, if you have a group or grow-out pen, an automatic waterer is a necessity. Watering troughs come in many different styles, but we like this one. Because it is up off the ground, there is little chance of fecal contamination. During the winter months the water in the troughs will freeze. We use a free floating water heater at that time.
It was converted from a feed trough by putting a standard sized kitchen drain set in one end with a pipe pointing out to one side. To clean the watering trough, we reach into it and "pull the plug" so to speak. The water runs out and we can scrub it down quickly. This eliminates the need to dip out buckets of water or turn the trough over to clean it. Water trough cleaning day is very popular with the emus, they love to splash!
When watering chicks younger than 3 months, use something shallow enough that the chicks won't drown. If the chick falls in, will it be shallow enough that it can lift up it's head?
The quickest way to make friends with an emu is to pull out the garden hose. They love showers and will let you stand there hosing them down for hours. For that reason, many farmers use a sprinkling system to give them a little shower during the hot days of summer.
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